Jenny Cavnar breaks barriers, calls televised play-by-play

Jenny Cavnar has joined a prestigious group of women to call televised play-by-play for a major league team.

Cavnar called Monday's San Diego Padres-Colorado Rockies game in Denver -- a special game for Cavnar, who has served as a game analyst on radio broadcasts and reported for both teams over her 12-year career in Major League Baseball.

"I am very excited about tonight," Cavnar told MLB.com before the game. "I'm really honored on the historical context of it, but I'm more so excited for the team effort. We have such a great team of broadcasters, producers, directors -- so it'll be really fun to collaborate with them and do the game tonight."

Cavnar, a pregame and postgame host for Rockies telecasts on AT&T SportsNet since 2012, joined analyst Ryan Spilborghs in the booth. The Rockies tweeted their support for Cavnar earlier.

Women calling Major League Baseball games is still a rarity. Cavnar's company includes Mary Shane, the first woman in a booth, who did radio for the Chicago White Sox in 1976 before moving on to television; and Suzyn Waldman, the first woman to do baseball game commentary who has worked full time in the Yankees' booth since 2005.

Waldman did her first TV broadcast in the booth in July 1995, for a New York Yankees-Texas Rangers game on ABC's "Baseball Night in America," and her first play-by-play in 1996, replacing Phil Rizzuto for a handful of WPIX broadcasts.

Others include Betty Caywood, who provided color commentary for the Kansas City Athletics in September 1964; Gayle Gardner, who called the Aug. 3, 1993, game between the Rockies and the Cincinnati Reds, replacing Charlie Jones on the Rockies TV broadcast; Pam Boucher, who announced 36 games on Yankees TV, WPIX, in 1977; and Jessica Mendoza, an analyst for ESPN for the past few seasons.